


Alola Sucks, Right?

by OneTrillionHearts



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: Addison/Moon is a dick about Alola, Briar is energetic and loves her pokemon, Canon Divergence, Comedy, Extra world building present, Gen, Gift for my best friend, Guzma has a Wimpod named pancake because I say so, I put extra detail into it folks, Novelization, Novelization of Pokémon Moon, OCs - Freeform, Other, Pokémon are cute ok, Self indulgence, Spoilers for Pokémon moon, but like not as gritty, inspired heavily by Degenerate by Blueschist, lusamine is still garbage, sisters being cool, sort of crack, world-building stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-06 00:03:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17334893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneTrillionHearts/pseuds/OneTrillionHearts
Summary: Addison Lune knew that sending her to Alola was going to be a total waste of her parents' time, and that the tropical isles were going to be the lamest thing ever. Right?Alternatively: AU where Moon goes to live with her big sister in Alola and originally hated the idea of doing so. Her sister lives near Po Town. Shenanigans ensue.





	1. What The Hell, Sis.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Bluey, happy belated. I'm so sorry for taking this long and not even getting to the juicy stuff yet, but I wanna show you that I've been working on it!

Alola.

Really? Of all the places her parents could send her, Addison's parents chose Alola. This place was just the hub of freaky tribal stuff and old snowbirds in the winter, at least to her fourteen-year-old brain. Kanto was fine on its own!  
But apparently they wanted her to be more "worldly" and "cultured". Still, they could've just sent her to Kalos to live with her cousins! And Kalosian language and boys were pretty!

The only real upside to any of the trip was seeing Briar. Her sister had moved there a year or so ago to study toxicology, having heard there were plenty of poison type pokémon on the islands that could help in her research.  
Oh, Addison remembered with dread as she sat on the plane alone, flight about to land, the bugs. The poisonous bugs.

Alola was going to suck.

Briar was quick to find her in the crowd of people streaming into the airport, and took Addison up into an embarrassingly tight hug when she did,

"Addie! Gosh I missed you, you've grown up so much while I was gone!" Briar gushed as soon as she had Addison in her grasp. It was true, Briar and Addison were eleven years apart, making Addison only nine when she'd first left home to study in the medical field,

"Geez, I missed you Bri, but I can't breathe—" Addison squirmed in her sister's grip, trying to get an angle that wouldn't crush her ribcage. If it wasn't the pokémon that would kill her, it would surely be this.  
Briar broke her free at last, and Addison had to pause to suck in the breath crushed out of her, "So this is Alola?"

She looked around at the airport, partly wanting to be bored, but unable to help herself feeling a little more cheerful now that she was on the ground and with a semi-familiar face.  
"Yep! It gets so much better when you see the scenery, though! The moon's about to rise over the ocean!"

"M-Moon?! Oh- oh, yeah." Addison had forgotten for a moment that Kanto and Alola were on entirely different sides of the world, and for a second anguished about the amount of jet lag she'd end up dealing with. Again she thought to Kalos—there were only a few hours difference there! Even Sinnoh had less of a time leap than this!

"Come on! Faster we get home the faster we get to catch up the faster you get to sleep off the jet lag!" Briar was quick to pull her away from the airport and into the tropical night, and in the path from the airport, she paused where she was.

"What're we doing? Where's the bike? Or do you not have a bike here?" Addison wondered all of these things out loud, referring to Briar's motorcycle from home. It seemed there weren't even any cars around here, let alone bikes like that...

Suddenly, she was caught off guard by a small 'bip!' that rang through the air, and turned her attention to her sister. Briar held a small red device in her hands, one with a few buttons and symbols on it, and had pressed the button beside a small, yet greatly detailed image of a Tauros,

"Wait, what is tha—" Addison was caught off guard by a Tauros trotting up to them shortly after, and Briar's apparent casual demeanour when it did. Last time a Tauros had approached them, she'd panicked. Addison looked at her sister quizzically for an explanation as to what the hell was going on, and Briar piped up, holding out her hand in a silent prompt for Addison to join her on the creature's back,

"Oh! This is a ride pager. They use them here to get around. I've only got a domestic license for them, so this little guy—" she checked the tag on its ear, "Jackie— won't be going very fast. Come on!"

For a few seconds of incredulous hesitation, Addison stayed planted firmly on the ground. There was no freaking way she was gonna ride a Tauros.

Well, it seems there was a freaking way.

Not long after, she grabbed Briar's hand and pulled herself up onto the saddle, rolling her eyes playfully at her sister's comment about her getting stronger over the time they had apart.  
"So where's your place?"

"Another island."

"What?!"

"Yeah, right now we're on Melemele. I live on Ula'Ula."

"And how are we going to go about doing that exactly?!" She silently begged Briar not to say 'By another pokémon!'

"We'll take a boat once we reach the island pier. It's not very far away."  
Oh thank god.


	2. Home Sweet Flood Plains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rain sucked too, but a sick-ass hat makes it better.

Things… weren't too bad on Melemele. Addison and Briar had taken a quick stop at the island's bureau to pick up Addison's papers and necessary items, and didn't pay much mind to anything else there.  
Of course, that's only if one didn't count Addison fawning over a young woman's Alolan meowth.

"Oh. My gosh. Sis, sis, Bria, it looks different than Kantonian ones."

Briar, who was in the middle of trying to get Addison's island passport, looked to her sister and shrugged, "The people are nice here. Go ask if you can pet it if you want."

Quite conveniently, the lady holding it was nice enough to even let Addison hold the pokémon, who she affectionately referred to as Lyle.  
Lyle, however, had a very contradicting opinion to his owner's… and Addison just barely got out of the encounter without getting a fury swipe to the face.

At least things were already happening that she could write home about. 'Dear mom and dad, the pokémon here hate me, it's a sign. Send an SOS pickup helicopter with a sweet/spicy-poffin care package and bring me home PRONTO.'

"Alright, we've got your stuff, Addie. C'mon, it's already," Briar looked at the clock in the bureau and suddenly yawned, "like, ten-thirty."

What?! The moonrise was two and a half hours ago?! Well, that was what they got, Addison considered, when they were in the Alolan equivalent of a Kantonian DMV.  
Not to mention of course how wigged out Addison had gotten when she heard it was that late and didn't feel a thing. It was midday in Kanto! Late morning, even!

The jet lag was gonna suck, whether Alola did or not.

-

On their way to the pier, which took no less than a few minutes, Briar spotted a small convenience store right before the docks. She squealed for a small moment, grabbed Addison's wrist, and Addison looked to where her sister stared.

"A pit stop store? Are they really that great here?" She just wanted to settle down by now, damnit, she'd been carrying her luggage the whole time when Jackie (who still stayed with them, Briar said that he would go once they didn't need transportation anymore) wasn't carrying it.

"No no no you don't get it these stores are COOL." Before Addison could protest, Briar took her by the hand and pulled her in.

Nothing stood out about the store, initially. They sold snacks galore and a few essentials, like adhesive bandages and cough drops. If Addison stood on her tiptoes she could see a slushie machine at the back of the store beside the lottery kiosk.

"Addie come over here! I found something awesome!" Briar waved from a few aisles over, and Addison followed the only familiar voice in this country over to the far aisle.

"What is it, Bri?" She asked, seeing only the monumental firework stacks set before her,

"LOOK!" Soon, Addison saw red.  
No, not anger. Just. A lot of red. Fabric, that is,

"Okay, okay! Geez, sis." Finally, she reluctantly looked at the item. It was a red hat with a knockoff version of the Pokéball symbol on it, in a simple beanie form with a flourishing top piece. When she flipped it over, the back read 'Future Champ' in cheesy, blocky letters.

"I'm getting it for you." Briar said much too excitedly, and before Addison could even react, they found themselves on the boat to Ula'Ula, red cap securely stuck on Addison's head to protect her from the sea winds—ones that were surprisingly cold.

-

In the distance during their trip, Addison noticed a large floating craft a ways away from them,

"Any idea what that is?"

"Oh! Yeah, that's the VLFS for the Aether Foundation. Very large floating structure. They've been researching pokémon in affiliation with the official research union. Some union scientists even work there. Remember that girl Katie I mentioned? The one I was friends with in Toxicology 101?"

"No way! She got a job with the union?"

"Yep! Little secret—rumour has it with the workers that some freaky tech stuff is being researched there too."

"Weird. It's probably just some harmless inside joke though." The sisters laughed it off, staring out onto the night ocean…

And then the boat landed at the Ula'Ula docks.

-

Ula'Ula was leagues bigger than Melemele, Addison could already tell from how extensive the trek was. They'd called on another tauros from the ride pager—one that Addison found out was named 'Decklan'—to make it easier on their legs, as well as Briar's tired body.

Soon, they arrived at the border of a place that Addison's phone said was named 'Po Town'. That rang a bell…

The two of them approached a house set a few feet from the border. It was a nice looking home, for sure, and only took half the brunt of the visible rain storm over the walled community. Something wasn't sitting right about the rainy place, so Addison refrained from looking at it and pulled her new cap a little harder over her head.

"Sylvester! Mama's home!" Briar then shouted out as she got off of Decklan. Addison immediately perked up at the name.

"That little demon is still alive?!" Despite the nickname, the joy in her voice was palpable.

A blue sylveon, tired as can be, wobbled out of the dog door and onto the porch. He sat down on the steps and puffed his chest out, as if expecting a treat for existing,

"SYLVESTER!" Addison leaped at him, and the sylveon leaped right back at her and into her arms, purring loudly,

"Haven't seen him that excited since I gave him a catnip sock last month. Geez, he must remember you!" Briar laughed,  
"Now come on, let's get you set up for the night so I can pass out and you can rid yourself of the lag. Welcome to my home sweet home!"


	3. Jet Lag Or Just Lag?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sleep is easier when satan isn't staring at you.

"Sis, d'you have any of those uhh… Munna pills?"

"… why?" Briar was awakened by the sudden question by her sister—one that she put to bed two hours ago, and one that was now standing in front of her in a long, pink, t-shirt style nightgown with a teddiursa on it.

"I just… can't sleep. It's too hot and I'm not even tired and I… I miss home already. I just wanna get used to this place, okay?" Though Addison refused to show it, Briar immediately took note of the sadness in her voice. She lifted herself upright off of the couch she'd accidentally fallen asleep on, and the wimpod that had settled down on her stomach woke and scurried off suddenly. She muttered something to the bug pokémon that resembled an apology and stretched, getting to her feet to help Addison,

"I think I have some of those, yeah. But remember that I'm waking you up early so you can get right into the Alolan timezone, okay?" With that, she went off to get the bottle of Munnesta in the bathroom cabinet.

Addison sat on the arm rest of her sister's couch and absentmindedly fidgeted. Soon after, Sylvester jumped up onto her lap, and sat down to sleep again, nuzzled against her.  
Suddenly, something felt… off in the room. Unsettling. She could still hear Briar rummaging through what Addison could only guess were hair products and empty toothpaste tubes to find the pills, but it seemed so far away compared to the aura surrounding the room.

… something was definitely behind her.

Another thing to write home about, Addison considered, if she lived to write at all. 'Dear mom and dad, Bri has a demon in the house and it's too hot at night. SOS. I hate Alola.'

Mustering all of her courage up as she heard Briar shut the cabinets, Addison grabbed Sylvester, hugged him tight to her chest, and turned to face the eldritch being that had transformed the room into a fearful, dark corner of the universe… She was met with huge, glowing purple eyes that belonged to—

"AHH!" The shout was heard from the hallway, and Briar rushed back into the living room to find her little sister on the floor shocked, Sylvester hissing, and a tiny espurr standing on one of the couch cushions.  
She gave a loud laugh and pulled her sister off the ground, reassuring her.

"Addie! Don't worry! That's just my espurr," Briar picked the tiny little furball of a creature off of the cushion and held it out so Addison could see, "this is Lucy."

"That short for anything?"

"Lucifer."

"… Why am I not surprised."  
Hesitantly, Addison played with the pokémon's fur, squishing its cheeks and laughing, "You scared the heck outta me you cute bugger."  
That is, until she attempted to flop around its ears,

"NO NO NONONONO! Don't touch that!" Briar pulled Lucy away, and sighed in relief when her sister froze, "Never lift an espurr's ears, it's got such intense psychic power that it'll either knock you back a good sixty feet or it'll just kill you."

"That's comforting." One more thing about Alola to worry about. Her sister's killer pets.

"Anyways, you said you needed some Munnesta. Here." Briar handed Addison one of the shiny, silvery-pink pills, and Addison swallowed it dry before going over to the kitchen sink and downing a glass to wash it all down.

Almost immediately, she felt drowsy, bid Briar a good night, thanked her for the pill, and staggered over to her bedroom to readjust her sleep schedule.

-

The next morning, it was about ten in the morning when Briar woke her,  
"You should thank Arceus that it's sorta the summer break here too, y'know. If it wasn't you'd be awake at seven."

"And in a school I don't know." Addison added, dreading the fact that that would be the case in about two months. She was supposed to spend just over a year there, having arrived in the early summer now and was going to head home in late summer the next.

"Get up! You got like, eight hours of sleep last night, let's get moving! Let's have fun today! Just the two of us, alright? There's a beach near here and the meadows on Ula'Ula are amazing! Or we could go to a shopping district here or—"

"Eeeeeeeeeehhh." She shoved her pillow around her head, curling in a fetal position to block out the noise. Briar stopped talking and sat on the side of her bed, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder,

"D'you wanna just sit around here today and meet my buddies? Ever since you arrived, my pokémon have been way too excited to meet you." Briar suggested softly, and Addison finally removed the pillow from her head,

"Yeah. Sure… why not?"


	4. Meet The… Whatever Those Are.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you just gotta kick back, relax, and enjoy the crowded home.

And so Addison's first full day was spent meeting Briar's pokémon and lazing around, as well as binge watching a documentary miniseries on irregular water pokémon. The latter was a request—beg, more accurately—from Briar, who had been waiting for the aquatic instalment of the 'Irregular Pokémon' series for a while, apparently.

Her sister was such a nerd. A whole menagerie of pets and a fixation on documentaries of all things! Well, she couldn't complain about the show though, the narrator of 'Irregular Pokémon' was hilarious sometimes, Addison had to admit.  
Of course, this didn't make handling all of the free-roaming pets any easier, especially since Lucy continued to stare at Addison, stand a little too close to her, and breathe especially hard through his mouth when he wasn't napping on the windowsills.

That wasn't even accounting for every other pokémon. A wispy little phantump Briar would coo "Aaaaaandy" at so he would come out of his hiding spot was always peeking out of each and every corner one could find,  
Peach, a cubone with too much time and sticks to throw on her hands, along with a growlithe Peach was seemingly close friends with, Kindling. Briar affectionately referred to Kindling as Kindle at times.  
Then there were the two that Addison was sure were plotting to kill the entire world. Xerxes was a ditto who did little else other than constantly transform into copies of random household objects, and Dolly was a banette who ended up in every single inconvenient and unexpected place one could imagine.

The ones Addison found at least a little bearable were Cliff, Briar's muddsdale, who had a penchant for oran berries, and Mica, her most feeble pokémon, a squirmy and incredibly shy wimpod who screamed if you tried to catch her.

She wouldn't admit it, but Addison wished she had her own pokémon friends. Not the number that Briar had, but maybe just one, even. She had never owned a pokémon by herself, having sort of co-owned a few strays and injured wild pokémon with her sister and parents when she and Briar brought them home. That and the family pet furret, Noodle. How was Noodle, anyways, she wondered?—

"Hey Addie," Briar broke her train of thought,

"Yeah?"

"I should introduce you to the Island Kahuna once you're all rested up and used to the timezones. He's a great guy, and initiation is sort of a thing for the locals around here."

"I-Initiation??? Bria, Bri, don't tell me I walked into a cult—"

"Hey, cut it out, Addie. It's just a welcoming to the islands, nothing more than some festive stuff going on and a greeting to some of the pokémon in the region. You remember the first ever post card picture I sent you guys? That was my initiation."

Addison recalled the image of her sister—who a comfey had actually taken place on—taking a selfie photo with a somewhat elderly man who wore a red lei around his neck. The guy was only barely smiling, but it was clear he wasn't all stone,  
"So lemme guess, in the name of Arceus—"

"Actually, they praise the Tapus first and foremost."

"The Tapus—whatever that is—they welcome newcomers to the land and wish them luck or something?"

"Exactly."

Addison paused, "… is there free food?"

Briar barely kept herself from laughing, "Yes."

"Sweet, I wanna get initiated then!"


	5. Mischievous Conduct

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So why exactly is Po Town off limits?

With a date set on The Island Bulletin (the weekly newspaper/app) for the welcoming initiation, Addison took up the days she had beforehand orienting herself on Ula'Ula island with her sister. Well, not so much the island and more what was in general walking distance of the house Briar lived in…

Except Po Town.

Briar had told Addison off the bat that the place was a desecrated mess that nobody rich actually wanted to live in. It always rained as hard as it ever could, and Addison could only guess that rich people didn't like being in such close proximity to other rich people.  
The only other piece of information she allegedly knew about it was that it was EXTREMELY close to a police station run solely by the Island Kahuna (the two sisters could actually see the station from their house), and that apparently the only people who hanged around there were a bunch of graffiti punks.

If Briar thought that would deter Addison from checking it out, she was sorely wrong.

So, on a day where Briar had drifted off after watching her fifth re-run of Deep Green: Stories of the Forest, Addison pulled on her rain poncho, and snuck out of the house to check things out in the mysterious and sorta threatening town. Of course, she wasn't a complete idiot, she had left a note for Briar and took Sylvester with her to it.

It took little to no convincing for Sylvester to want in on the action.

Soon, the two of them had snuck past the police station and gone directly to the walled up community, and were surprised when the rusty gates opened easily.  
Addison tiptoed into the vicinity, to be met with the faint noise of people talking,—at least one of them were swearing at any given time—the hiss of spray paint cans, and the sight of a run-down old place with wet paths. That, and a bunch of punks—all wearing the same shirts and bandanas, maybe in a gang—producing the crude dialogue.  
To avoid being seen, Addison ducked behind a shrub and into what was the overgrown remains of what could've been someone's front lawn.

"Sketchy." Addison whispered to Sylvester,

"Syl, ve ve."

"You've got a point there buddy. It's more… shady. Like dreams went to die here," She didn't actually understand a word Sylvester had said, "total divehole. The pits. Whatever the word is."

She looked over at the punks, spraying some weird insignias on the walls that resembled skulls as well as a few immature profanities, as well as—hey, weren't those things a few of them were now spraying those 'S' symbols people in her classes always scribbled on their binders—

"Hey! What do you think you're doing here, intruder?" A voice from behind Addison and Sylvester called out, the owner's tone was sharp as a whip and undoubtedly feminine. The two of them turned around quickly, Sylvester growling and hissing in shock, and Addison yelped.

They were now face to face with a woman with pink and yellow hair, a deeply tanned complexion, and an amount of eyeliner and shadow that would put the Kantonian emo band The ThunderStone Reaction to shame.

"You're coming with me, got it?" The dangerous woman crossed her arms, "The boss is gonna love this."

"Hey, we're just checking the place out, we don't mean anything by it. Just, just let us go. I'm new here, I don't know what's going on—" Addison uttered on and on about how the scary lady could just let them go, and in that process neither human noticed Sylvester slipping away. When Addison did, she let out a pained groan, "Thanks, buddy!"

"Come on, don't make me ask twice, kid." This woman was getting annoyed out of her mind, and it showed in her glare. Addison saw it best to just do as she was told at that point. Making a break for it wasn't an option after shoving herself into a boxed in property.  
Yet another fact added to her 'Why I hate Alola' list. 'Dear mom and dad, the gangs here are aggressive and I had a close brush with death today. For the third time, I beg of you, SOS.'

-

"So, what's'a kid like yourself doin' around here? Playin' super sleuth with your pokémon friend that ditched ya?"

Who was this?  
Who the HELL was this?

And why did the woman bring Addison to him? Also why was his throne room a ransacked bedroom?

"I'm new to Alola! I just wanted to see what this place is like because my sister told me not to go here and I was curious though!" Addison shouted, scared out of her wits now that the man had stood up—now at about six foot five she wouldn't doubt—and let his heavy footfalls lead to her,

"Ya moved here not long ago? Pretty sure you're lyin' outta ya ass, kid…" The menacing guy gave a wry, shit-eating smirk, "No kid here, familiar or not wantsta mess with me, destruction in human form, or as some like ta' call me, ya boy, GUZMA," he explained, as if he had recited the introduction for months, "The boss that beats ya down and beats ya down and beats ya down agai—" Each 'beats' was punctuated by him ramming his fist against his palm, and Addison let out a small squeak of fear before he cut himself off, confusing her,

"Wait, ya said your sister is around here?"

"Yeah… her name's Briar? D'you know her?"

"Oh shit, Plums, you got one of the Lunes, any second now she's gonna—"

 

"Addison Gracidea Florence Lune I swear to Arceus where ARE YOU?!"


	6. What Did I TELL You?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Briar ain't havin' it.

Guzma winced when he heard the shout from the first floor of the building, and muttered, "Ah, shit."

"BOSS, THE DOCTOR LADY'S HERE!" Someone shouted up, and Guzma replied,

"YEAH, I KNOW, JIMMY!"

The woman who Guzma had addressed as "Plums" left the room, possibly to approach Briar's voice, and there was brief conversation taking place on the first floor now. Addison, however, stayed in place, much like how Guzma hadn't moved from his spot at all either.

... Wait. Doctor lady? Briar knew these delinquents?!

"Wait, how do you know my sister?"

"Well, y'see-"

'Plums' returned right at that moment with Briar, who was carrying a very frustrated Sylvester in one arm, the other with a hand on her hip,

"Alright, who's gonna explain here why my fourteen year old sister is in a run-down mansion?" She raised her eyebrow, glaring down both Addison and Guzma. Mostly Guzma, though. She motioned for Addison to come over to her, and she immediately did, almost clinging to her side.

He sighed, smoothed his hair back, and put on a bravado that likely shocked the entire room. He walked up to Briar with what the room guessed was what he thought was a confident grin and began,

"Bri, come on, we didn't know it was your sister; yeah? Cut Plums some slack, willya?-" he was cut off by Briar putting a hand up and silencing him, and she looked down at Addison.

Oh boy, Addison thought, here it comes.

"Addie, what in Arceus's name are you doing here? Are you okay?! I wake up and Sylvester is pulling at my sleeve and brings me a note saying that you ran off to Po Town?! I told you not to go here!"

"You told me there was a bunch of graffiti punks around here, not a freakin' gang!" Addison replied back, "and I'm fine, but I think this guy was gonna beat me up."

Guzma spoke up, talking in mock offense, "Graffiti punks? Bri, I'm hurt."

"And YOU," Briar turned to him, and Guzma looked as if he most certainly wished he hadn't spoken, "I didn't know the super hip 'Team Skull' liked capturing and scaring children! Now, Guzma, I expect an apology. To her. If you're a man, that is."  
The way she spoke was like that of an indignant mother.

"The situation's resolved, Briar, I don't need to do nothin' anymore." He groaned, but the look Briar gave him somehow made the huge man sigh defeatedly and turn to Addison.  
The pain on his face as he attempted to put the requested apology into words was palpable,

"I'm... sorryPlumstookyahere... there that's it." He shrugged and crossed his arms, and Briar rolled her eyes at him, a hand on Addison's shoulder.

And through a brief moment of reflection, Addison realized she really did have no idea what the hell was happening.

-

The walk home was equally odd, and equally harrowing.  
"I told you SPECIFICALLY not to go to Po Town, and what'd you do?"

"Go to Po Town..."

"Exactly. What got into you? Sneaking out like this, it's not like you at all!"

"I was curious! Besides, I'm not hurt! I don't even think they were gonna do anything to me!" Addison retorted, though she wouldn't have been surprised if Guzma tried to hit her.

"Yes, but I'm still upset that you blatantly disobeyed me. I'm supposed to be in charge of you now in place of mom and dad! I know I'm not the best authority figure, but I'm trying, okay?! And you know better!"

"Syl." Sylvester piped up, his tone snarky at Addison,

"Don't act all high and mighty you fluffy demon. You enabled her!" Briar snapped back at him.

Addison then looked at Briar strangely, "So... how... how do you know the Po Town Gang? Or uh, what'd you call it? 'Team Skull'?"

The sisters and Sylvester arrived back at home, and Briar sat on the front steps of the house, "Well, Team Skull is just a band of delinquent outcast kids lead by a guy with the IQ of a gym sock, so you wouldn't be surprised at how often they need first aid or help with pokémon handling... Oh, and meds."

"You're a gang's... drug dealer? Do mom and dad know about this?!" Once again, Addison felt like she was getting into something much worse than she originally considered. 'Dear mom and dad, Briar is involved in gang activity, SOS.'

"Pharmacist."

"That's just a fancy word for a legal drug dealer, Bria."

"I just help them! Most of them are in their late teens ditching actually shitty parents and needed some room and board! They need all the help they can get."

"Look, I'm still in shock, so sorry if I don't recognize troubled youth as quickly as you do. If there's anything I noticed it's that you have their boss under your thumb."

"Whatever."


	7. Alola, Initiative!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Alola, all!

Finally, the night had arrived! The initiation to Alola festival was going to take place in not even an hour, and Addison was in her room, finally feeling a little excited about living there. It didn't outmatch her annoyance, still, but it made things feel a little better.

Of course, that excitement dissipated little by little as she rummaged through her clothes, unable to find a dress or an outfit that would fit the occasion. Pyjamas? No. Her usual clothes? No. Her ballet unitard? Not a chance. Faux Kalosian-style formalwear? Definitely not. Swimsuit? No goddamn way—

"Addie, you good in here? The festival's gonna start in an hour, so no big rush. Just reminding you." Briar had peeked into the doorway, only to find Addison standing in front of a pile of clothes, looking pained and indecisive,

"Oh, Bri, uhm… what would one… wear to an Alolan festival?" Addison tapped her foot and looked worriedly at the pile before her,

"Oh! Uuhm, I just wore a tank and shorts to mine, it's a casual event. Think about the back yard barbecues we had at uncle Kay's house, but without Crusher trampling you every five minutes." She said this in reference to uncle Kay's houndoom, of course. And Addison rolled her eyes,

"That happened ONCE."

Both sisters laughed, and Briar entered the room to help Addison pick out something easy and casual to wear.

-

It was about seven o'clock when Briar and Addison left for the festival, which was being held in the island's biggest community, Malie City. More specifically, the heart of Malie Gardens. It was a tiny bit of a trek from where they were to the gardens, and the two went by way of tauros—this one named 'Finnigan'—to get there.

"So, this is the initiation thing?" Addison asked her sister as they approached the entrance of the garden through the serene, lantern-lit streets of Malie. She'd chosen to wear a baggy floral shirt and a set of green knee-shorts she'd brought from Kanto, beat up sneakers, and the knockoff hat Briar had brought her. Casual indeed, Addison considered.

Two traditionally dressed Alolan women greeted them at the archway into the gardens. Briar had quickly mentioned to them before they were giving the two leis that Addison was a new arrival, and that resulted in a patterned lei somewhat resembling the colours of a comfey being strung around Addison's neck.  
It was… soft, and really nice.

A small bonfire burned near the back-centre of the gardens, closer to water than foliage, and all of the attendees gathered around it.

"So… what happens here?"

"Oh, well, I think the proceedings are a little different for the children compared to the adults. Even more different for kids without pokémon. I think they introduce you to an indigenous pokémon to help you feel more comfortable with the environment or something. That's only if you're like, eleven or older though. They do that with the local kids who come of age too—"

"You're only telling me that now?! Bria, I don't even have a Pokéball on me!"

"Relax, relax! That's why I gotcha this!" Briar pulled a small ball out of her bag, and when it expanded, Addison recognized the kind. A genuine, fully formed, officially branded Friend Ball.

Addison stared at the ball for a moment, and then looked up at Briar, "Are you serious?! Where did you get this? Holy snaps those are rare!"

"The research union gave it to me for a project. It was an excess resource, so they let me keep it." Briar shrugged, and handed the ball to Addison as it shrunk back to pocket-size,

"Remember, that thing can only be used if the pokémon likes you though. The meeting ceremony has a few varied outcomes."

"Got it."

-

Two hours passed, and it was finally Addison's turn to have her moment of welcoming. She'd watched a few of the meeting ceremonies now, especially one of a very friendly young boy named Kuji, who had just come of age to meet what he described as his future best friend for life.

He met what Addison heard was called a popplio. It looked like… a clownish spheal with party hats strapped to it to her. But in a cute way.

"Alright, Addie, it's your turn!" Briar urged Addison up onto the platform that was set up for the meetings.

Nervously, Addison wobbled up the plank stairs and knew that in the next few moments, she could be meeting her future best friend for life.


	8. And It's SPHERICAL

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Addison gets a new friend.

She waited on the platform with many eyes on her, and couldn't help but feel awkward as the observers waited in anticipation for her to meet some random pokémon.  
The Island Kahuna, an old man she heard was named Nanu, was facilitating the meeting events by standing just off to the side of the centre of the platform, and gave sharp but caring urges for Addison to keep going forward.

Suddenly, a small bird pokémon hop-waddled up the steps on the other side of the platform, and Addison could faintly hear the crowd's reaction, along with the thrumming of traditional Alolan drums paired with her heartbeat.

Of course, the sound didn't matter when she was paying more attention to the creature in front of her. It looked like the distant cousin of a hoothoot. A tiny, cute, bow-tied, spherical hoothoot cousin.

"Rrrrow! Rowlet!" He chirped, and fluffed up his tiny wings before jumping into Addison's arms suddenly. She let out a small screech at the action, but after calming down and adjusting, she held the feathery ball close, giggling.

"Rowlet? Is that it?" She asked the tiny bird pokémon, and he chirped in reply, causing a laugh to escape Addison.  
"D'you wanna be friends, rowlet?" She queried, and this time he seemed to understand the words, because he ruffled his feathers, flapped, and chirped happily in response, as if urging her to make friends with him.

Addison showed the rowlet her Friend Ball, and said, "D'you wanna?"

He flapped out of her arms and stood in front of her, chirping again, waiting for her to use it. Hesitantly, Addison pressed the button on the Friend Ball until it made a small 'click!', then threw the unlocked ball at the rowlet gently. It fell directly in front of him, but the open capsule still pulled him into the ball.

It wiggled around barely three times, and then a small compression of dust, air, and light puffed out from the finally sealed ball.

The observers gave their applause as they had for every other welcomed child, and Addison picked up the ball, cradling it close.

She just found her new best friend, didn't she?

-

The next few days, Addison spent the time learning about the rowlet she'd became friends with in Malie Gardens that night. How this particular one acts, how he eats, and… what should she name this adorable baby boy?

"Says here they're actually kinda endangered, and there's a kinda Ditto Initiative to bring em all back. He's one of the strong ones they released into the wild again, maybe." Briar piped up as she researched rowlets alongside her sister, "I heard about the Ditto Initiative team before, but I've never spoken to one of their reps. Genetics and breeding are a touch different compared to toxicology and pokémon properties as human cures-slash-treatments."

"No. Freakin. Way." Addison was staring down at the screen of Briar's academic pokédex, and was staring at the page for rowlet's evolutionary stages, "Bri I think I have the perfect name for my baby."

"That being?"

"Archeart!"

"… why?"

"His final evolution is a freakin' decidueye! They're like, forest archers or whatever. Arch—and because I love him—heart!"

Briar laughed a little, and turned to face Addison, "You know, you've been much more chipper since you got Archeart. You hated this place, but as soon as you got that fluffball your whole demeanour changed."

Addison picked Archeart up and lifted him to he was face to face with Briar, severity in her voice, "This is the best thing that's ever happened to me. And it's SPHERICAL! Dare you deny the feathery ball?"

"Rrrow! Rowlet!" The pokémon said, as if agreeing with Addison. Yes, he was indeed spherical. Yes, he was indeed amazing.


End file.
